The Healthcare industry has always been an evolving ecosystem, often struggling to change fast enough to keep up with regulatory and patient needs. On top of competitive integrations, increasingly stringent regulations, advances in technology, rising costs and aging populations, Healthcare payers and providers now are facing the COVID-19 calamity. There has never been a time of more intense pressure.

To adequately adapt their strategies and do what is needed to position themselves for growth, Healthcare ecosystem participants must understand what’s happening in the market today and what to expect in years to come. Here are the eight trends that will have the biggest impact on healthcare industry players in 2020:

A continued shift to value-based care: Healthcare providers must change from a fee-for-service delivery model to a value-based care delivery model. Increasingly, patients expect personalized and cost-effective care – and they expect that national and local regulations will support them. Technology available on the market facilitates greater value at reduced cost. All this change in the market is coming together to shift the healthcare paradigm from “disease care” like we’ve seen in the past to a focus on “health outcomes.”

An increased focus on patient centricity: Providers are increasingly introducing wearables to monitor patient health and influence the course and choices of patient care. Digital channels that are centered around the patient can dramatically influence wellness, facilitate the capture of data to improve efficacy of treatments and feed other applications to monitor and better manage diseases.

Unlikely alliances shaping the industry: Healthcare providers and payers are now considering mergers and acquisition activities with a specific focus on improving the quality of care, providing greater capacity for personalized care and acquiring new technologies and intellectual property. Unique alliances in healthcare and retail including Walgreens’ Boots Alliance, CVS Health’s acquisition of Aetna, Best Buy’s acquisition of Great Call – all done in anticipation of huge revenues from the Healthcare market. These, as well as the acquisition of Express Scripts by Cigna and the formation of Haven Healthcare by American companies Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase are all signs of a fundamental shift in how healthcare will be delivered in the future. These developments promising to have massively transformative influences across the industry.

Tech giants’ impact on the market: Unexpected players have begun to move into the Healthcare industry and are bringing with them innovative capabilities like remote access and monitoring, telemedicine and artificial intelligence. Traditional ecosystem players must think in new “out of the box” ways to compete and collaborate.

Growth of ambulatory care and surgery centers: Fewer profitable procedures are being performed in hospitals and are instead being performed in surgery centers, leaving hospitals with increased cost pressures. Many services also are moving to a home-healthcare model.

Patient data as the most valuable asset: With HIPPA and GDPR in effect, and social determinants of health becoming more relevant to care and analysis of well-being, we must ask: Will this “market enabler” get more or less organized and regulated? Healthcare providers and solution providers are creating solutions to gather more user-generated data to offer customized services.

MedTech companies adopting service-oriented business models: MedTech companies are partnering with digital healthcare providers to stay relevant while shifting their focus from traditional product services to value-based service. Healthcare providers should take advantage of this trend and integrate these service-oriented models to support future services.

COVID-19 creates a new industry norm: Everyone is taking a new look at the business of healthcare management in an active war against this disease. The new Healthcare industry normal for tech projects, supply chains, regulation, manufacturing of critical supplies and the overall resiliency of care will look radically different than it does today. Governmental and inter-governmental agencies will build new frameworks for disease response and data sharing. Public and private alliances and collaborations may even be mandated. Regulations, spending priorities and the current resiliency posture of healthcare ecosystems will determine the “New Future” for healthcare providers across the globe.

Robert “Bob” Krohn is a Partner and Healthcare Practice Lead at ISG. He has an extensive background in business process optimization, organizational design and execution including the direct oversight of numerous outsourcing contract negotiations. Bob is an ISG Digital Expert and a speaker/ blogger on emerging trends in Healthcare.

Jamie helps clients define strategy, capitalize on cloud, analytics and digital technology trends and implement target operating models. Recently, he assisted several Fortune 100 and 1000 clients in sourcing their global transformations to the Microsoft cloud, next generation networks and data center co-location solutions. ITIL certified, Jamie has a BA in MIS from Notre Dame and an MBA with a concentration in Portfolio, Program and Project management from the University of Texas at Dallas. He served as an Airborne, Air Assault and Ranger qualified US Army Field Artillery officer. His military decorations include the 1998 Gen. MacArthur Leadership Award.

Tony Mataya is a recognized speaker and industry leader in sourcing, nearshoring and IT transformation. With experience as an advisor, a service provider and a client, he brings a unique perspective and a passion for leveraging technology to drive business value to each engagement. Tony has facilitated outsourcing contracts with a total value of more than $15 billion and has worked for clients in the U.S., Europe and Latin America across the manufacturing, defense, energy, healthcare, media/entertainment and telecommunications industries. Tony has twice been named a top 50 nearshoring executive by Nearshore Americas and has been the nearshoring chair for the Outsourcing Institute.